This article may contain one or more independently chosen Amazon affiliate links. See full disclosure.
Most home cooks view a garlic press as an alternative to chopping or mincing garlic. They use it because they don’t want to go to the trouble of using a knife. Unfortunately, chefs and other experts don’t help. They tell us to use the garlic press if we’d like, or to never use it at all! Should you use one or not?
Garlic Press Is Not the Same As Chopping
A garlic press is not a must-have for most home cooks. When used, a press is not interchangeable with a knife. It has some utility in specific circumstances, but for most garlic uses, a chop or mince with a knife should be preferred as it will yield much better results.
When you use a garlic press, you are crushing and juicing the garlic. This will release more of the sulfurous compounds and make for a much stronger, and perhaps bitter and unpleasant garlic taste. A fine chop with a knife will produce a lively pleasant garlic flavor, given the same amount of garlic.
Therefore, the majority of the time, it is better to use a knife to chop garlic and avoid the garlic press. This does not meant that a garlic press is never useful but it will always produce a stronger taste than using a knife.
How The Garlic Press Works
A garlic press forces cloves of garlic through tiny holes, thus crushing the garlic and forcing out the juice. It is no less trouble than a knife as, once you press the garlic through the holes, you will probably have to use a knife to scrape the garlic off the bottom of the garlic press. There may also be some garlic left on the inside of the pressing bowl. You may have to gather what is left and re-press it. Cleaning the garlic press is more difficult as the garlic gets caught in all the tiny holes.
When To Use A Garlic Press
A garlic press is most useful when you need to incorporate or almost dissolve garlic into a mixture. Press garlic when you need to use it in a smooth but garlic-heavy sauce.
A garlic press is also best to use for making garlic butter, whether for use as part of a compound butter or for making garlic bread.
Most of the time, you will not use more than one or two cloves of garlic when using a press. This will give a pronounced garlic presence without being overwhelming.
If You Don’t Have a Garlic Press, Do This
If you need to crush garlic into a paste, but don’t have a garlic press, do it like the old-school chefs: use salt and a knife. Place a bit of salt onto a few cloves of garlic and use the flat of a chef’s knife to crush the garlic, allowing the salt to grind the garlic into a fine paste. This can be used in the same way that you would use garlic from a garlic press, and may produce even better results.
A mortar and pestle can be used instead of a chef’s knife, but with patience, the knife will yield a good, smooth garlic paste.
Does Garlic Have to Be Minced?
Another misapprehension concerning garlic is the need to finely mince it for all recipes. You can chop your garlic as fine as you want. You can use larger pieces or smaller ones. The finer the mince, the less garlic you will want to use. If you don’t feel the need to hide the garlic pieces in your dish, then a coarser chop will often provide a better result.
You can also slice garlic. Often, when you use bigger pieces of garlic you can use more garlic without having it overwhelm a dish. This can allow you to get more of the nutritional benefits of garlic into your diet. How much garlic you can use depends on the particular garlic you have on hand. Some is stronger than others, so use your best judgment.
- SIMPLE TO USE & BUILT TO LAST: Our premium quality garlic press is constructed from food-grade, rust-resistant materials meant to be among your favorite kitchen gadgets for years to come. This garlic and ginger mincer is designed with built-in studs to extract more paste within seconds. It is great for both professional and home kitchens.
- CRUSH AND MINCE UNPEELED CLOVES: No more strong garlic odor or sticky residue lingering on your hands! Our garlic mincer is designed with a comfortable ergonomic handle that requires minimal effort on your wrists and hands to peel, crush, and mince the cloves in one go; yielding delicious garlic paste while the peels stay in the chamber.
- EASY TO CLEAN: Simply rinse your garlic and ginger press tool under running water or place it in the dishwasher for thorough cleaning. We recommend rinsing the garlic crusher right after use to avoid residual pulp and fibers hardening up.
- MULTI-PURPOSE TOOL: Don’t have a mortar and pestle? Fill the garlic mincer tool with coriander seeds, cumin seeds, or peppercorns when any recipe calls for “freshly cracked” or “coarsely ground” seeds. This garlic presser can also be used as a ginger press tool or to crush onions or nuts. Simply fill the chamber and squeeze to crush. PROP 65 WARNING: This product may contain chemical(s) known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and/or other reproductive harm.
- HASSLE-FREE, ZULAY GUARANTEE: We love and take pride in our ginger and garlic press and back this up with a lifetime warranty. We offer an incredible value at a moderate price and are confident that youll love our garlic grinder!
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Grating Garlic
A small ginger grater or microplane grater can be used to grate garlic, giving results similar to garlic crushed with a garlic press. Some chefs from the Mediterranean area use the tines of a fork to grate garlic. If holding a little garlic cloves and trying to grate it sounds like a pain in the butt…it is. There is not much reason to grate garlic when a garlic press or the salting and pressing method described above will yield much the same results.
Better Than a Citrus Zester! The Microplane, a Multipurpose Tool
No post found